This invention relates to seal assemblies, and more particularly to a seal assembly for sealing a rotatable shaft and for providing a preloading force on a bearing assembly which rotatably supports the shaft.
Various seal constructions are known for sealing about a rotatable shaft. In most applications, however, the seal is located in the vicinity of a bearing assembly which rotatably supports the shaft, such that there is typically no interaction between the bearing assembly and the seal assembly.
In certain applications, such as in a horizontal axis washing machine, a rotatable shaft is supported by a bearing assembly which is located in close proximity to a member mounted to the shaft and rotatable with the shaft, such as the end of a drum carried by the shaft. This application requires a seal construction which is capable of placement in a relatively small sealing space between the end of the drum and the bearing assembly. In such an application, it may be necessary to provide an axial preloading force on the inner race of the bearing assembly relative to the outer race, so as to provide proper functioning of the bearing assembly. It is necessary to control the preloading force to ensure that a sufficient amount of force is exerted on the inner race of the bearing assembly to provide proper functioning, and to also ensure that the preloading force does not exceed that which could cause failure of the bearing assembly.